Do not kill.

                                                                                                                        B-H

Do not kill.

וְאַ֨ךְ אֶת־דִּמְכֶ֤ם לְנַפְשֹֽׁתֵיכֶם֙ אֶדְרֹ֔שׁ מִיַּ֥ד כָּל־חַיָּ֖ה אֶדְרְשֶׁ֑נּוּ וּמִיַּ֣ד הָֽאָדָ֗ם מִיַּד֙ אִ֣ישׁ אָחִ֔יו אֶדְרֹ֖שׁ אֶת־נֶ֥פֶשׁ הָֽאָדָֽם׃

But for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require it of every beast; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man!

שֹׁפֵךְ֙ דַּ֣ם הָֽאָדָ֔ם בָּֽאָדָ֖ם דָּמ֣וֹ יִשָּׁפֵ֑ךְ כִּ֚י בְּצֶ֣לֶם אֱלֹהִ֔ים עָשָׂ֖ה אֶת־הָאָדָֽם׃

Whoever sheds the blood of man, By man shall his blood be shed; For in His image Did God make man.

וְאַתֶּ֖ם פְּר֣וּ וּרְב֑וּ שִׁרְצ֥וּ בָאָ֖רֶץ וּרְבוּ־בָֽהּ׃ (ס)

Be fertile, then, and increase; abound on the earth and increase on it.”

Both Onkelos and Rashi interpret these verses as Hashem’s declaration that He will impose justice on anyone who kills another person in cases where a Bais Din (Jewish court) is unable to sentence the murderer to death due to insufficient witnesses or other halachic restrictions. The second verse specifically commands that the killer be brought to justice and sentenced to death, but only a Bais Din—a Halachic court with an unbroken chain of Smicha (ordination)—has the authority to execute a person. This is the interpretation of both Onkelos and Rashi.

Rabbeinu Bachya writes: “The Torah continues ומיד האדם (and from the human being, etc.). This refers to situations where there are witnesses to the murder. In other words, man must judge the murder when there are witnesses, whereas Hashem will judge the murderer when no admissible evidence is available to a human tribunal.” שופך דם האדם באדם דמו ישפך ("Whoever spills the blood of a human being, his blood shall be spilled by a human being.") The word באדם means "before a human tribunal," indicating that there must be witnesses who can testify. In such cases, the guilty party is subject to execution. This interpretation is also reflected in the Targum’s translation: דישוד דמא דאינשא בסהדין על מימר דיינא דמיה יתשד (Onkelos clearly translates באדם as “in the presence of witnesses”).

Radak comments: ומיד האדם ("If man kills man, G-d reserves the right to exact retribution either in this life or in the hereafter").

Chizkiuni explains why punishment for murder must come from the court: “עשה את האדם (He appointed man) on earth to be the judge, so that fellow man would be deterred from committing sins and crimes.”

Rav Miller adds that action from a human court is necessary because failure to respond to sin leads to apathy toward wrongdoing.

Even a human corpse retains an aspect of the Divine image, but only a living person is truly close to G-d in their potential. When this potential is destroyed by the actions of another, that person loses their Tzelem Elokim (Divine resemblance). As Sforno explains: "It is this ‘divine attribute’ of man that makes him so significant in the eyes of his Creator, who demands an accounting from those who destroy the Divine image by taking a human life.”

Ramban quotes the Sages in Bava Kamma 91b, explaining that a person who commits suicide is also accountable for murder because they extinguish the potential given to them by G-d. See also the commentary of Bechor Shor.

The consequence of taking one's life, however, is not physical death. Chizkiuni further elaborates: “The passage is intended as an answer to people who deny that G-d operates vis a vis man through a system of reward and punishment, i.e. reward after the body has died and punishment after the body has died, and who therefore see in suicide a way of avoiding being held responsible for their actions on earth. Clearly a system of reward and punishment, unless it included posthumous reward and punishment, would be meaningless, and would not act as deterrent not to sin.”

Moreover, Ramban writes that the consequence for killing applies equally to both Noachides and Jews, whether the punishment is carried out by a court or directly by the Hand of Heaven.

In a fascinating commentary on this verse, Baal HaTurim derives the meaning of the verse from the word וְאַךְ (“However”). According to him, any form of self-harming is prohibited, including harmful speech.

In the case of harm toward another person, it is clear that any form of violence, whether physical or verbal, is prohibited.

Alshich, writing shortly after Baal HaTurim, comments on this verse: "A person who embarrasses their fellow to the point that they blanch causes the Tzelem Elokim (Divine Image) to be impaired and is therefore guilty of death, even if they have not physically killed anyone.”

Finally, Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch offers this reflection on שֹׁפֵךְ דַּם:

“The whole value of our being human rests on our associating, not bodies with bodies, but spirits with kindred spirits and recognizing such spirit in every human being. The life, the Nefesh of every human being is entrusted to the care of every other human being. And if, through the guilt of a human being, a human soul departs from this world earlier than God, who had placed it here, had willed it, then God misses it here and is Doresh Midoi  – (Exact in measure). Every tiny minute of the earthly existence of even the most miserable human being is sacred to God, and whosoever shortens his own or anybody else's life by one second is responsible to God.”

Regarding the third verse cited at the beginning of this essay, we will share one more commentary that continues the spirit of the above teachings, again from Rav Hirsch:

“Inasmuch as here the procreation and propagation of the human race have this designation added, the term would represent a swarm of the most manifold different kinds of men. It would accordingly be a description of a diversity and infinite variety of human races, and moreover בָאָ֖רֶץ on the earth, and by the earth, under the influences of the differences of the various lands. And not only שִׁרְצ֥וּ בָאָ֖רֶץ but also רְבוּ - the whole physical, moral and intellectual education equally בָֽהּ under the same influences. (…)Noachian mankind is given the mission to spread over the whole world, and under the most diverse conditions and influences of climate and physical nature of the countries, to become Men and develop the one common real character of Man; a diversity and a multiplicity which appeared to us in the above connection as God's new plan for the education of mankind, to avoid the necessity for any fresh total catastrophe. The diversity is to balance the deficiency and so pave the way to progress to the goal. Hence say our sages on this sentence "God has provided the most differing zones and climates with a special dispensation", (or perhaps more literally : The general covenant of God with mankind is spread over the most diverse districts) — -Blessed be God, Who has given every country an attraction to its inhabitants", and they point out how every race feels at ease in its homeland even under the most inhospitable circumstances, and the most unfriendly districts affect their sons with home-sickness when they are away from them, and in strange lands disturbs their spiritual development. Man, who thinks he is master of the land is, in many ways, in his innermost self, in his mind, feelings, understanding and speech, mastered by his native land, and this variety of countries has a purpose. Everywhere a man can conduct himself as a human being, everywhere be happy, everywhere pure human qualities can be developed in people. Only no man may judge others by his own standards. That is why, at the end of this new conditioning of the world and mankind it says: "diversify your-selves on the earth and multiply yourselves on it, by it, in it, with it etc.”

Martin Buber, in his essays I and Thou and especially The Face of the Other, highlights the profound challenge humans face in recognizing others as fully human. The more different the “other” appears, the more difficult it is to see the Divine in them. This natural obstacle can breed animosity, and, in extreme cases, even murder.

It is precisely this factor—natural diversity—that leaders can exploit to incite violence between groups based on nation, religion, or race.

In contrast, Rav Hirsch explains that this diversity is not a reason for division, but for spiritual and moral growth. Diversity within humanity is the very means by which we come closer to Hashem, by recognizing the “other” as a reflection of the ultimate “Other.”

This insight into diversity can also be seen in the relationship between husband and wife. The Divine image in the spouse allows each partner to perform the highest service to G-d, as explained in The Garden of Peace by Rav Shalom Arush.

It is clear that Buber’s philosophy did not arise in a vacuum. As a German philosopher and Biblical scholar, he was undoubtedly influenced by the writings of Rav Hirsch.

Rav Hirsch is not the only one to describe the goal of humanity and the essence of its struggles in such terms. In future essays, B’H, we will explore the writings of the Nevi’im (Prophets) and even our daily prayers. But already at this point, we are faced with an important question: How, in this context, can we understand the existence of violence? Not violence born of corrupted Gevura/Din (justice and severity), as explained in the previous essay, but how it is sanctioned by governments—historical Jewish governments in the Holy Land, and even by the Torah itself. We will not focus on why violence exists, but rather on how it cannot be utilized in the progress toward a united humanity, under the spiritual guidance of the Jewish people, in recognition of the Creator.